BY RYAN FERRY
NAOMH Muire will bridge a 26-year gap this Sunday in Towney when they make their long awaited return to Division 1 of the All-County League.
Danny O’Donnell’s team were thrilled to secure their promotion last season via a play-off.
They have been steadily building towards the league starting and had to wait one week extra as they had a bye in the opening round.
However, they will travel to face Kilcar on Sunday at 3pm and that will be a tricky tie.
“The last time we were in Division 1 was in 2000,” said O’Donnell.
“We won the Intermediate in 1998 and got promoted and we spent two years in Division 1.
“It was a 15-team division at that time I think. This is our first return to the top flight in that period of the time.
“We have been fluctuating between the divisions ever since but we will just take our chances now in Division 1 and see what that brings for us.”
It’s a busy time for O’Donnell as he is also involved with the county minors.
The diligent Carndonagh CS teacher was never likely to take his eye off club matters and he’s happy with how pre-season has gone.
“We didn’t change anything.
“We had the exact same approach that we had for the last three or four seasons.
“We got into a block of work pre-Christmas as everyone else does but with Division 1 on the horizon there was probably more of a focus on getting quality work into the squad and trying to build the numbers a wee bit.
“We aren’t the biggest club in the county but we do try to max out in terms of our player availability.
“The boys have put in a big winter in fairness to them as they have done over the last few years to be fair to them.
“We are kind of waiting now on games. We have only had a few challenge matches and we played Ardara in the Gaeltacht.
“We don’t have as many games played as other teams with the pitches and weather.
“We feel we have trained well. Going into Towney on Sunday will be a big challenge obviously.
“You’re taking on one of the big clubs in the county on their home patch.
“I think the way we are approaching it is that we aren’t really fearing any teams.
“We are looking to go in and compete and look after our own performance and we feel if we can do that then we will be in with a chance of winning games.
“We will know more about ourselves after Sunday afternoon but we have no fear anyway.”
Emigration is traditionally a big issue in the Rosses and Naomh Muire have lost their fair share of quality players down through the years.
However, O’Donnell has now got a good group of committed players who have stayed at home and grown together in recent seasons.
“We’re pretty good.
“Paddy McClafferty stepped away but we are still hopeful that we will get him back for the championship.
“It’s just with family and his commitments, he’s finding it hard to come back year after year after year.
“We will give him a bit of space at the minute to reflect on things.
“We have a lad in from Mayo, Niall Feehan, who has transferred in to the club, and Jamie Watters, who has joined from Donaghmoyne.
“They are living in the club area and have joined us. A club like us are happy to take anyone who comes into the parish.
“They have brought a wee bit of freshness to the squad and are pushing hard as well and will be looking to feature as early as possible in big games.
“Thankfully we are in good enough shape with numbers. We have one or two niggles going into the weekend and you have to take a long-term view on that as well.
“You’re not just going to chase a result and maybe lose a man for six weeks.
“We will look at our squad during the week and decide then who gets the run-out on Sunday.”
Kilcar were pegged back by Dungloe last week but still got a draw.
The Towney men had a bad start to the league last year but have a good infusion of youth in 2026.
O’Donnell is reluctant to read too much into the results on the opening weekend.
Teams will gradually improve but won’t be at full strength. Despite that there are still some dates in Naomh Muire’s diary that will garner plenty of attention locally.
“When you look at the results in Division 1, it’s hard to get a read on it when you see the team selections.
“We are not naïve and we know that league football is now without county players.
“But at the same time, every club now gets the chance to push on.
“The boys have taken that opportunity. They went after Division 2 last year and had a really good league campaign and we only lost two matches away to Carndonagh and away to Dungloe.
“They played really well that day against Downings to earn their place.
“We were in Division 3 a few years ago, and they feel they have earned the right to compete against these bigger clubs.
“We know we won’t be playing against full sides every week and that might benefit us, and certainly benefitted the likes of Termon last year who went on to win the league.
He added: “There is a buzz around the club. We have to go out to St Eunan’s, Naomh Conaill are coming to us, Gaoth Dobhair and Dungloe are coming to the Banks and we have to go to Glenswilly.
“They will be brilliant games to be involved in.
“When we started off this journey four years ago, my first game was against Na Rossa in Division 3.
“The leagues were re-jigged and we should have been in Division 4.
“So from where we were to where we are now, it’s been a great journey.
“It’s the same group of players but they have just matured a wee bit and they want to test themselves against the best.”